KINSKI, KLAUS

Kinski, Klaus: translation

(Nikolaus Nakzynski, 1926-1991)

Actor. Kinski's became a recognizable cinematic countenance comparable toPeterLorre's of a generation earlier. He began his career as a theater actor with no training (as Lorre had done), appearing in Tübingen and later Baden-Baden. ThereBoleslaw Barloghired him to work inBerlin, beginning in 1946. In Berlin he established himself at both the Schlosspark Theater and theDeutsches Theater, and by 1950 Kin-ski had caught the attention ofFritz Kortner, who hired him for a production ofDon Carlosin 1950 at theMunichKammerspiele. Kinski in fact resembled a young Kortner, and like Kortner in his 20s, Kinski's acting style was often frenetic and untraditional. Kinski began to concentrate on film acting by the mid-1950s and subsequently appeared in more than 100 films, the vast majority of which failed to exploit his enormous talent. Few good actors have made more bad movies than did Kinski. The exceptions were usually those by Werner Herzog (though Kinski appeared briefly inDr. Zhivagounder David Lean's direction). For Herzog, Kinski played a series of profoundly "conflicted" characters, beginning inAguirre, derZorn Gottes(Aguirre, the Wrath of God, 1972),Nosferatu(1979), Woyzeck (1979), and concluding withFitzcarraldo(1982).